Contacts
Partnership registration and statistical moderation queries
Isha Griggs-Cameron (08) 9273 6755
SGMPartnerships@scsa.wa.edu.au

School requirements in relation to a partnership and comparability of school marks
Nick Ognenis (08) 9273 6354 
Nick.Ognenis@scsa.wa.edu.au

Schools are required to register their participation or non-participation in a small group moderation partnership with the School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) by Thursday, 12 February 2026.

Schools with a projected number of fewer than six ATAR course examination candidates for a Year 12 ATAR course must establish a small group moderation partnership for 2026.

To ensure the required comparability of school marks, a partnership should be established with a school with a large cohort in the course early in the academic year to ensure delivery of the Year 12 ATAR course at the same time. A vital part of small group moderation is that partner schools work together to develop identical course and assessment outlines. Schools will register their 2026 small group moderation partnerships via the online registration link.

The requirements for schools in a small group moderation partnership are detailed in Section 3.6 of the WACE Manual.

Partner schools are required to:

• use an identical assessment outline (typically developed collaboratively)
• establish, agree to and use identical assessment tasks and marking keys
• conduct all assessment tasks under the same agreed conditions (or conditions that are as similar as possible)
• co-develop and document agreed marking strategies to ensure comparability of marking, which can include:
  • one teacher marking a task from all students in all partner schools (i.e. rotating the marking of tasks between teachers)
  • double-marking a task from all students or for selected students across the range of grades (i.e. both teachers independently marking the whole task or particular sections/questions, then discussing comparability, reviewing marks and making adjustments where required)
  • co-marking a task (i.e. each teacher marking particular sections/questions for all students).

Full details of the small group moderation procedures are available in Section 3.6 of the WACE Manual available on the Authority website at https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/publications/wace-manual.

All schools with one or more small group moderation partnerships must register their partnerships with the Authority by Thursday, 12 February 2026 using the link available on the Authority website at https://senior-secondary.scsa.wa.edu.au/moderation/small-group-moderation.

A Guide for online registration of Small Group Moderation partnerships is available for reference.

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